March On

[Sweder]

That recovery run had to wait a day or two.
First order of business this week was to fly to Cascais, a beautiful suburb of Lisbon close to Estoril, to view the site for a forthcoming Helicopter event. The outward journey proved an adventure, with BA cancelling half their scheduled flights out of Gatwick whilst Easyjet, my carrier of choice, merrily catapulted load after white-knuckled load into the churning skies.

Having returned home last night, driving back from Gatwick with the accompaniment of the ever-impartial Alan Green cavorting in jubilation from his press box at the San Siro, I ventured out for a damage assessment this morning. The outward 4k was akin to the trials of Sisyphus, the eternal rock-roller. The same savage winds that had earlier ripped racing at Cheltenham off today’s sporting calendar raged out of the south west. My own curse was to drag fifteen stones of lazy lard up a seemingly endless series of hills through a wind tunnel. I’d like to tell you what the track du jour was but I could barely hear a note against the incessant bludgeoning on my ears.

What you lose on the swings, I’m told, you gain on the roundabouts. I’ve never understood that phrase; I’m sure there are people out there who can explain it. It’s supposed to be an approximation of what the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away or something like that. At any rate the Lord had seen fit to give me an almost impenetrable barrier on the outward drag, and he duly took that away at the turn, replacing it with the Mother of all homeward shoves. I turned at Blackcap, paused to catch my breath and took a step forward onto the downward slopes.

Wo
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.....................oaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!

Next thing I knew I was at the gate to Landsdown Bottom, a mile and a half closer to home. Bloody hell, that was some ride! Uncontrolled, heart-pounding mayhem, remarkably dangerous, unbelievably exhilarating. Wonderful stuff.

On the injury front I’ve picked up (from Sunday) a bit of an odd one.
At the end of the long run I felt an unusual tightness across the top of my right foot at the ankle join. It’s just about where the tongue of your running shoe sits. I thought perhaps I’d over-tightened my laces, but the discomfort has persisted over the past few days and I felt it out there again today. I’m stretching the area by grabbing my toes and pulling my foot up my back (not a pretty sight!) and this helps in the short term. If anyone knows what that is or has suffered similar I’d love to hear from you.